Turkish national soccer team / European championships

Turkey
Türkiye

European Championship record scorer:	Semih Şentürk (3)
European Championship record players:	Rüştü Reçber (9)
Rank:	15th
Balance sheet
15 European Championship games 4 wins 2 draws 9 defeats 13:22 goals
statistics
First European Championship game Turkey 0: 1 Croatia Nottingham ( ENG ); June 11, 1996
Biggest European Championship victories Turkey 2-0 Belgium Brussels ( BEL ); June 19, 2000 Turkey 2-0 Czech Republic Lens ( FRA ); June 21, 2016
Biggest European Championship defeats Turkey 0: 3 Denmark Sheffield ( ENG ); June 19, 1996 Turkey 0-3 Spain Nice ( FRA ); 17th June 2016
successes
European Championship
Participation in the finals	4 ( first : 1996 )
Best results	Semi-finals 2008
Best results in the countries where the UEFA European Football Championships are held
(As of July 10, 2016)

The article contains a detailed description of the Turkish national soccer team at European championships . The Turkish team was able to qualify for the first time for the European Championship finals in 1996, when it was held for the first time with 16 teams. Then there are four more qualifications, one of which is a semi-finals. In the all-time list of the best, Turkey is in 15th place.

Overview

year	Host country	Participation until ...	Last opponent	Result	Trainer	Comments and special features
1960	France	not participated
1964	Spain	not qualified				Failed in the preliminary round to Italy , which could not qualify for the final round.
1968	Italy	not qualified				In the qualification to defending champion Spain failed, which also failed to qualify for the final round.
1972	Belgium	not qualified				In qualifying at the eventual winners Germany failed
1976	Yugoslavia	not qualified				Failed in the qualification to Vice European Champion USSR , who could not qualify either.
1980	Italy	not qualified				In qualifying at the eventual winners Germany failed.
1984	France	not qualified				In the qualification again defending champion Germany failed.
1988	Germany	not qualified				In the qualification of England failed.
1992	Sweden	not qualified				In the qualification again England failed.
1996	England	Preliminary round	Croatia , Portugal , Denmark		Fatih Terim	Eliminated as last group
2000	Netherlands and Belgium	Quarter finals	Portugal		Mustafa Denizli
2004	Portugal	not qualified				Latvia failed in the playoffs of the group runners-up.
2008	Austria and Switzerland	Semifinals	Germany	-	Fatih Terim	With 2: 3 just failed at the later finalists Germany.
2012	Poland and Ukraine	not qualified				In the playoffs of the group runners-up to Croatia failed.
2016	France	Preliminary round	Croatia , Spain , Czech Republic	-	Fatih Terim	After two defeats and one victory as the second worst group third, missed the knockout round
2021	Europe	qualified				Turkey initially applied as the overall host and then after the decision to host the Games in several countries with the Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul for the organization of games, but then withdrew.

The tournaments

EM 1960

Turkey did not take part in the first European football championship in 1960, which was still called the “European Cup of Nations”.

EM 1964

Four years later, more teams than 1960 wanted to participate, including Turkey. Therefore, the round of 16 was preceded by a preliminary round . Turkey had to play against Italy and initially lost 6-0 in Italy, whereupon coach Ljubiša Spajić was sacked shortly afterwards. For the second leg, Bülent Eken looked after the national team in addition to his work as the club coach of Beyoğluspor . But this lost the home game with 0: 1 and was eliminated. Italy then failed in the round of 16 to defending champions Soviet Union .

EM 1968

For the European Football Championship in 1968, group games were scheduled for the first time in qualifying . Turkey, now trained by Adnan Süvari , had to face European champions Spain , Czechoslovakia and Ireland . In the first group game in Ireland Ogün Altıparmak managed the first European Championship qualifying goal for the Turks, but the game was lost 2-1. Against the defending champion in their home city of Istanbul, the first respectable success was achieved with a goalless draw and then the second leg against the Irish was won 2-1. In the following three games, however, the team remained without a goal and ended up in the last place in the group. With the 0-0 win against Czechoslovakia they helped Spain to win the group. Spain then failed in the quarter-finals to world champions England . Süvari initially remained in office, but after losing two games in qualifying for the 1970 World Cup , his work as national coach ended.

European Championship 1972

For the European Championship finals in 1972, Turkey could not qualify . In a group with Germany , Poland and Albania they were able to start with a 1-1 in Germany and a 2-1 against Albania, but then lost the home game against Germany with 0: 3, in Poland with 1: 5 and in Albania with 0: 3. The 1-0 win against Poland in the last game couldn't do much, except that Albania was relegated to last place. Group winners Germany then also reached the finals and became European champions for the first time. Cihat Arman's last term of office ended with the penultimate qualifying game . He inherited for the last game of the Romanian Nicolae Petrescu , before Coşkun Özarı took over the office for the first time.

EM 1976

In 1976 the final round was held for the last time with four teams. The Turks met in the group stage of qualifying against European champions, the Soviet Union, Ireland and Switzerland . Turkey won two games, drew twice and lost twice. Again, this was only enough for third place. Group winners USSR then failed in the quarter-finals to the later European champions Czechoslovakia.

EM 1980

In qualifying for the European Championship in Italy, which was held for the first time with eight teams, the Turks met Germany , Wales and Malta . The Turks, trained by Sabri Kiraz at the beginning of the qualification , started with a defeat in Wales, but after a win against Malta they managed a 0-0 win against Germany and after two more victories still had the chance to win the European Championship in Germany to qualify. But Germany won 2-0, becoming group winners and winning the title for the second time in the finals. Kiraz initially remained in office, with a 4-0 defeat against Wales in qualifying for the 1982 World Cup but ended his tenure.

EM 1984

In qualifying four years later, Turkey met defending champions and runner-up world champions Germany, Northern Ireland , Austria and Albania again . Turkey was now trained again by Coşkun Özarı and could only win the home games against Albania, Northern Ireland and Austria, but indirectly helped the German team to qualify for the finals, in which the Germans were eliminated in the preliminary round. With the most goals conceded, the Turks were only second to bottom. Özarı initially remained in office until they lost 6-0 to Hungary in April 1984.

EM 1988

Opponents in qualifying for the European Championship in 1988 were England , Yugoslavia and Northern Ireland again. Turkey could not win a game this time and were bottom of the group. The only points were achieved with a goalless draw against Northern Ireland and England, which suffered the only point loss. England went to the European Championship as group winners, but dropped out in the preliminary round. With the missed qualification, the activity of Mustafa Denizli ended as national coach, who had taken over the post after the first two games in addition to his coaching job at Galatasaray Istanbul from Coşkun Özarı, who had meanwhile returned as national coach.

EM 1992

In qualifying for the European Championships in 1992 , Turkey met England, Ireland and Poland again. The Turks, trained by the German Sepp Piontek , lost all six games and were eliminated without a hitch. Piontek initially remained in office, but since the qualification for the 1994 World Cup was similarly poor, he quit his job and recommended Fatih Terim as his successor, who had previously coached the U-21 team .

EM 1996

Azerbaijani postage stamp for the first European Championship game for the Turks and Croats

In 1996 the European Championship was held for the first time with 16 teams, which on the one hand made athletic qualification easier because the field had been doubled, but on the other hand there were more applicants after the upheavals in the Eastern Bloc . Nevertheless, Turkey seized the opportunity and qualified for the finals for the first time.

In a group with Switzerland, Sweden , Hungary and Iceland , the second place was taken behind Switzerland and surprisingly the World Cup third Sweden was relegated to third place. Only the home game against Switzerland was lost, but the second leg in Switzerland was won. As the third-best runner-up in the group, the Turks qualified directly for the finals in England.

Opponents at the finals were Croatia , which was also there for the first time, Portugal and defending champions Denmark . In their first EM game against the Croatians, the Turks kept the 0-0 for a long time, but then had to accept the 0-1 four minutes before the end of the game. Alpay Özalan was the last man in defense to refrain from stopping the goalscorer Goran Vlaović with an emergency brake, which is why he was awarded a UEFA Fair Play Prize, but was criticized in the Turkish media. The 0-0 win against Portugal did not last that long, the 0-1 already fell in the 66th minute. So the end for the Turks was already clear before the last game, which was then lost 3-0 to the Danes, but this success didn't help them either. Terim then resigned as national coach and was coach of Galatasaray Istanbul . His successor was his predecessor Mustafa Denizli .

EM 2000

Starting line-ups for Turkey's first victory in a European Championship game

In qualifying for the EM 2000, defending champion Germany was once again the opponent. Other group opponents were Finland , Northern Ireland and Moldova . The Turks started as the only team with four home games and were able to win the first two: 3-0 against Northern Ireland and 1-0 against Germany, which was the first time a competitive game was won against Germany. This was followed by a 1: 3 home defeat against Finland. The next three games were won, however, with a 4-2 in Finland, the revenge for the home defeat succeeded. Due to two draws in the last two games (1: 1 in Moldova and 0: 0 in Germany), however, the direct qualification was missed, which the German team secured with the 0: 0. The Turks had to go into relegation as third-best runner-up in the group and met Ireland. After a 1-1 draw in Dublin , a 0-0 second leg was enough for them to qualify for the finals due to the away goals rule .

In the final round they met Italy in the first game and fell 0-1 in the 52nd minute. Ten minutes later, Okan Buruk equalized with the first final goal for the Turks. But they lost the game 1: 2 with a penalty. In the second game against Sweden, a goalless draw resulted in the first point win at a European Championship finals. In the last group game against co-hosts Belgium, Hakan Şükür then secured the Turks' first win against Belgium and a European Championship finals as well as their first place in the quarter-finals in a major tournament with two goals. There they met Portugal and Alpay Özalan , who had been awarded the fair play prize four years earlier, received the red card in the 30th minute after an assault . With one player less, the Turks had no chance and lost 2-0. But that was not the end of the Turks' road to success, because two years later they surprisingly achieved third place at the first World Cup in Asia under the new national coach Şenol Güneş and only lost twice against world champions Brazil .

EM 2004

In qualifying for the European Championship in Portugal, the Turks were initially able to build on their performance at the World Cup, but ultimately failed to qualify. Opponents in the qualification were again England, Slovakia , Macedonia and Liechtenstein . The Turks started with three wins, but then lost 2-0 in England. Then three more wins followed, so that the last home game against England was about direct qualification. The Turks needed a win for this, the English a draw was enough. After a goalless 90 minutes, the Turks were relegated to Latvia . After a 0: 1 in Riga , the 2: 2 after a 2: 0 lead in Istanbul was not enough to reach the finals. Latvia qualified for a major tournament for the first time and was eliminated in the preliminary round, but still managed to score 0-0 against Germany, which meant that the Germans were also eliminated early. Şenol Güneş stayed on for one game, but was fired.

EM 2008

Turkey and Greece applied to host the European Championship, but the joint application from Austria and Switzerland failed. This meant that the Turks had to qualify for the European Championship again, which this time succeeded again despite a handicap. Because according to FIFA sanctions because of the riots after the World Cup qualifying game for the 2006 World Cup between Turkey and Switzerland, the Turks had to play their home games outside Turkey and at least 500 km away from the Turkish state borders and to the exclusion of any spectators. The Turks chose the Commerzbank-Arena in Frankfurt am Main as the venue . Opponents in the qualification were defending champions Greece , Norway , Bosnia and Herzegovina , Moldova, Hungary and Malta . The Turks, who have been trained by Fatih Terim again since 2005, began the qualification with four wins, including a 4-1 win against the defending champions, then surrendered a point for the first time in a 2-2 win against Norway and then lost 3-2 in Bosnia and Herzegovina. A 2-2 win against Malta meant only a brief setback, after which a 3-0 win against Hungary followed. Then it was enough against Moldova only to a 1: 1 and with 0: 1 the home game against the Greeks was lost. With a 2-1 win in Norway, 2nd place and thus direct qualification for the final round was secured.

At the finals, Turkey was drawn into the group with co-hosts Switzerland . Other opponents were again Portugal and the Czech Republic. In the first game against the Portuguese they lost 2-0 in the last game, just like 8 years earlier, with the second goal only falling in stoppage time. In this, the winning goal for the Turks against Switzerland fell. The game against the Czechs, against whom the Turks had never won before, was even more dramatic. After 62 minutes it was 0-2, in the final quarter of an hour the Turks were able to turn the game around and win 3-2, but had to accept the red card for goalkeeper Volkan Demirel for violent behavior in stoppage time. But that was not the end of the drama. In the quarter-finals against Croatia, both teams initially failed to score for 119 minutes. Then the Croatians managed to make it 1-0, but the Turks equalized in extra time. So it came to a penalty shootout . Here then substitute goalkeeper Rüştü Reçber became the hero who was able to save a Croatian penalty. Since two Croatians shot past the goal and only one scored, only three Turks had to compete, but all of them converted their penalties. Only in the penalty shootout of the semi-finals between Italy and the Netherlands at the EM 2000 were only four penalties converted, but there were eight players. Turkey was in the semi-finals and met Germany. Here the Turks were able to take the lead for the first time through Uğur Boral , but had to accept the equalizer four minutes later. After Miroslav Klose brought the Germans into the lead in the second half, Semih Şentürk , who had already equalized against Croatia, also equalized against the Germans. This time the Germans had the better end for themselves, because Philipp Lahm scored the winning goal to 3-2 in stoppage time, which meant that Germany reached the final for the sixth time, but lost to Spain , which won a title again after 44 years.

EM 2012

For the organization of the EM 2012 u. a. Turkey advertised again - this time alone. However, it failed due to the joint application from Poland and Ukraine and therefore had to qualify . Opponents were once again Germany, as well as Belgium, Austria , Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan . The Turks, now trained by Dutchman Guus Hiddink , started the qualification well with two victories, but then lost 3-0 in Germany and surprisingly 0-1 in Azerbaijan. After that, only the home game against Germany was lost, which won all 10 games and helped the Turks to place 2 with the win against Belgium in the last game. As the worst runners-up in the group, they then met Croatia in the relegation games and lost the home game 3-0. The 0-0 in the second leg was then no more than a respectable success. Hiddink's contract with the Turkish association was then terminated by mutual agreement.

EM 2016

For the first time, 24 teams took part in the European Championship. Turkey had also applied to host the event, but was defeated by France 6: 7 in the last vote and therefore had to qualify in terms of sport. For the drawing of the qualification groups , which took place on February 23, 2014, the Turks were placed in Pot 3. The Turks were drawn into Group A. From the other pots the following were drawn: the Netherlands , the Czech Republic , Iceland , Latvia and Kazakhstan .

The Turks, who have been trained by Fatih Terim again since 2013, started poorly and lost their first two games in Iceland and Istanbul against the Czech Republic. In Latvia it was only enough to score 1-1 before the first victory against Kazakhstan. The 1-1 draw at the third World Cup, the Netherlands , was more of a success, whereas the 1-0 win in Kazakhstan and the 1-1 draw against Latvia didn't quite meet expectations. With a 3-0 win against the Netherlands, however, third place was achieved in September 2015, which also ensured that Iceland and the Czechs qualified for the finals for the first time. With victories in the Czech Republic and Konya, despite being outnumbered against Iceland at times, thanks to a victory by the Kazakhs in Latvia, the Turks were able to qualify directly for the finals as the best group third and improve by 19 places in the FIFA world rankings in November 2015.

In the final round, the Turks lost the first two games against Croatia and defending champions Spain, but then won 2-0 against the Czech Republic, which was not enough to make it into the second round as one of the four best third-placed players in the group. Terim remained in office, his term of office ended in June 2017 during the unsuccessful qualification for the 2018 World Cup.

EM 2021

The Turkish Association announced on April 17, 2012 its application for the European Championship, which was initially planned for 2020. After the decision was made to host the European Championship for the 60th anniversary in several European cities, Turkey also applied with the Ataturk Olympic Stadium to host games. On April 25, 2014, the Turkish Football Association TFF announced that the candidacy was being withdrawn in favor of a new application for EM 2024.

The Turks would not be directly qualified as the host and had to qualify like all other teams. Opponents in the qualification were world champions France, Iceland, Albania, Andorra and the Republic of Moldova. At the beginning of the qualification, Şenol Güneş took over the position of national coach in Turkey, which he had already coached from 2000 to 2004. The Turks started with victories in Albania (2-0) and against the Republic of Moldova (4-0) and were then able to win for the first time against France and thus for the first time against a reigning world champion (2-0). Then followed with a 1: 2 in Iceland, the only defeat in the qualification, because the second leg in France was not lost (1: 1). Nevertheless, the Turks were only able to qualify for the finals on the penultimate matchday with a goalless draw against Iceland. With three goals conceded, the Turks, along with Belgium, were the most defensive team in the qualification. The Belgians scored more than twice as many goals as Turkey.

At the draw on November 30, 2019, the Turks were drawn into Group A with Italy, against which they will play the opening game in Rome . Other opponents in Baku , Azerbaijan, are Switzerland and Wales.

Player with the most appearances in European championships

Games	player	Year (games)
9	Rüştü Reçber	1996 (3), 2000 (4), 2008 (2)
8th	Hakan Balta	2008 (5), 2016 (3)
7th	Arif Erdem	1996 (3), 2000 (4)
	Alpay Özalan	1996 (3), 2000 (4)
	Hakan Şükür	1996 (3), 2000 (4)
	Ogün Temizkanoğlu	1996 (3), 2000 (4)
	Mehmet Topal	2008 (4), 2016 (3)
6th	Tugay Kerimoğlu	1996 (3), 2000 (3)
5	Hamit Altıntop	2008 (5)
	Abdullah Ercan	1996 (3), 2000 (3)
	Tayfun Korkut	1996 (1), 2000 (4)
	Semih Şentürk	2008 (5)
	Sergen Yalçin	1996 (2), 2000 (3)

Player with the most goals at European championships

Gates	player	Year (goals)
3	Semih Şentürk	2008 (3)
2	Nihat Kahveci	2008 (2)
	Hakan Şükür	1996 (0), 2000 (2)
	Arda Turan	2008 (2), 2016 (0)
1	Ugur Boral	2008 (1)
	Okan Buruk	2000 (1)
	Ozan Tufan	2016 (1)
	Burak Yılmaz	2016 (1)

As of June 21, 2016

Players banned from European championships

• In 1996 Tolunay Kafkas received the second yellow card in the second group game and was suspended for the last group game.
• In 2000, Alpay Özalan received the red card in the quarter-finals for an assault , since Turkey was eliminated, it had no further effect on the tournament. But he was banned from the first qualifying game for the 2002 World Cup.
• In 2008, Volkan Demirel received the red card in the last group match for assault and was banned from the quarter-finals and semi-finals. Mehmet Aurélio received the second yellow card in the last group game and was suspended for the quarter-finals. In this, Tuncay Şanlı , Arda Turan and Emre Aşık also received the second yellow card and were banned from the semi-finals.
• In 2016, Gökhan Töre was suspended for the first group game of the finals due to the red card received in the last match of the qualification. Hakan Balta received the second yellow card in the last group game, but since the Turks were eliminated this had no effect.

Share of players playing abroad in the EM squad

The first Turkish European Championship squad only included players who played in Turkey. In 2002, two UK-based players were included, including England-born Mustafa İzzet . In 2008, the German-born Hamit Altıntop and the French-born Mevlüt Erdinç , who also played in their country of birth, were taken into account.

Year (games)	Number (countries)	Players (stakes)
1996 (3)	0
2000 (4)	2 (1 in England, 1 in Scotland)	Mustafa Izzet (1); Tugay Kerimoğlu (3)
2008 (5)	7 (1 in Germany, 2 in England, 1 in France, 1 in Greece, 1 in Russia, 1 in Spain)	Hamit Altintop (5); Emre Belözoğlu (5), Tuncay Şanlı (3); Mevlut Erdinç (2); Tumber Metin (2); Gokdeniz Karadeniz (4); Nihat Kahveci (4)
2016 (3)	6 (1 in China, 1 in Denmark, 3 in Germany, 1 in Spain)	Burak Yılmaz (3), Emre Mor (2); Hakan Çalhanoğlu (2), Yunus Malli (1), Nuri Şahin (1); Arda Turan (3)

As of June 21, 2016

particularities

• Turkey is the most frequent opponent of the German team in the European Championship qualification with 10 games, but never played against Germany in the World Cup qualification.

Games

Nottingham (2) Sheffield Eindhoven Brussels Arnhem Amsterdam Geneva (2) Basel (2) Vienna Paris Lens Nice Rome Baku (2)

Venues (yellow = balanced, green = positive and red = negative balance, number in brackets = number of games if> 1)

The Turks have played 15 European Championship games so far, four of which were won, nine lost and two ended in a draw. A game had to be extended and was won on penalties . The Turks never took part in the first or opening game of the European Championship, played twice against the hosts, once against the defending champions but never against the eventual European champions.

The most frequent opponents are Croatia and Portugal, against whom we played three times.

The highest victories in the European Championship finals come against these opponents:

•  Belgium - preliminary round 2000 - 2-0 (first win against Belgium)
•  Czech Republic - preliminary round 2016 - 2-0 (also a 2-0 in qualifying for the EM 2016)

Two European Championship games were the biggest defeat against this country:

•  Denmark - preliminary round 1996 - 0-3
•  Spain - preliminary round 2016 - 0: 3 (also a 1: 4 in the 1954 World Cup qualification and a 0: 3 in a friendly match)

All EM games
No.	date	opponent	Result	AH/*	venue	occasion	Remarks
1	06/11/1996	0: 1	Croatia	*	Nottingham ( ENG )	Preliminary round	First international match against Croatia
2.	06/14/1996	0: 1	Portugal	*	Nottingham ( ENG )	Preliminary round
3	06/19/1996	0: 3	Denmark (TV)	*	Sheffield ( ENG )	Preliminary round	Last game in Fatih Terim's first term
4th	06/11/2000	1: 2	Italy	*	Arnhem ( NED )	Preliminary round
5	06/15/2000	0-0	Sweden	*	Eindhoven ( NED )	Preliminary round
6th	06/19/2000	2-0	Belgium	A.	Brussels ( BEL )	Preliminary round
7th	06/24/2000	0: 2	Portugal	*	Amsterdam ( NED )	Quarter finals	Last game under coach Mustafa Denizli
8th	06/07/2008	0: 2	Portugal	*	Geneva ( SUI )	Preliminary round
9	06/11/2008	2: 1	Switzerland	A.	Basel ( SUI )	Preliminary round
10	06/15/2008	3: 2	Czech Republic	*	Geneva ( SUI )	Preliminary round
11	06/20/2008	1: 1 n.V .; 4: 2 i. E.	Croatia	*	Vienna ( AUT )	Quarter finals	First penalty shoot-out by the Turks
12	06/25/2008	2: 3	Germany	*	Basel ( SUI )	Semifinals
13	06/12/2016	0: 1	Croatia	*	Paris ( FRA )	Preliminary round
14th	06/17/2016	0: 3	Spain (TV)	*	Nice ( FRA )	Preliminary round
15th	06/21/2016	2-0	Czech Republic	*	Lens ( FRA )	Preliminary round
	06/11/2021	-: -	Italy	A.	Rome ( ITA )	Opening game
	June 16, 2021	-: -	Wales	*	Baku ( AZE )	Preliminary round
	06/20/2021	-: -	Switzerland	*	Baku ( AZE )	Preliminary round

See also

• Turkish national soccer team at world championships

Individual evidence

1. ↑ uefa.com: "Starkovs enjoys historic success"
2. ↑ spiegel.de: "Out of EM qualification: Turkey separates from coach Guus Hiddink"
3. ↑ Draw for the EURO qualification: Pot 1 in focus. In: uefa.com. UEFA , February 20, 2014, accessed March 11, 2014 . 
4. ↑ fifa.com: "Belgium at the top for the first time"
5. ↑ International: Turkey is applying to host the EM 2020. In: focus.de. April 17, 2012, Retrieved April 17, 2012 . 
6. ↑ Nils Römeling: Turkey withdraws application: EM 2020 or EM 2024 in Germany? In: fussballnationalmannschaft.net. April 28, 2014, accessed April 28, 2014 .